Community Initiatives
Baby Formula
As part of the Airports Authority ' s efforts to help combat the nation ' s infant formula shortage in 2022 , it hosted flights from overseas via Dulles International Airport , to bring the much-needed product to the United States .
The first flight , a FedEx cargo jet loaded with 120,000 pounds of formula from Germany , arrived on May 25 . The shipment , brought to the U . S . under the Biden Administration ’ s Fly Formula program , was met at the airport by First Lady Jill Biden and U . S . Surgeon General Vivek Murthy .
Standing in front of pallets of formula containers in the Dulles cargo area , First Lady Jill Biden said , “ It ’ s impossible to hear the stories of children suffering and not imaging your own children in the same position .” Murthy noted “ how important it is to parents that they have confidence in their ability to safely and securely feed their child , and I know how frustrating and scary it can be when that security feels out of reach .”
After being off-loaded from the FedEx plane , the formula was trucked to a Nestlé distribution center in Pennsylvania .
A second shipment of baby formula landed at Dulles on Thursday , June 9 in the cargo hold of a United passenger flight from London . Officials of United Airlines , the Airports Authority and the U . S . Department of Health and Human Services were on hand to welcome the delivery , aboard a Boeing 777 that was towed to United ’ s maintenance hangar after unloading its passengers and luggage at the terminal .
The baby-formula shortage stemmed from the U . S . Food and Drug Administration ’ s closure of a manufacturing plant in Michigan because of contamination concerns , followed by a recall of formula shortly afterward .
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